Memorable moment

Read by David Tennant, the story was released in the same format as the BBC BooksTenth Doctor Adventures book series and their associated audio book adaptations, but was released exclusively to audio. The story features Donna Noble, who makes her first BBC Books appearance in Pest Control, months prior to the release of her first adventures in print.

Contents

The Doctor and Donna face monstrous insects and a ruthless robot exterminator in this thrilling, exclusive audio story, read by David Tennant. The TARDIS is lost in battle on a distant planet. When the Doctor sets off in pursuit, Donna is left behind, and finds herself accepting a commission in the Pioneer Corps. Something is transforming soldiers into monstrous beetles, and she could be the next victim. Meanwhile, the Doctor steals a motorbike and stages a jailbreak. Well, how hard can it be to find the TARDIS, rescue Donna, and negotiate a peace? But that's before the arrival of a brutal and remorseless mechanical exterminator, bent on wiping out the insects. It may be that nothing can stop it, because this robot's solution for the infestation is very simple: kill everything.

The Doctor and Donna briefly adopt the aliases of Dr. McCoy and Captain Kirk, respectively, among several other references to Star Trek. The Ninth Doctor was briefly called Mr. Spock in TV: The Empty Child.

The Doctor knows the sport of free running, and it's indicated that he was taught the extreme sport in the 1980s by its foremost innovator, Sebastien Foucan. However, the date given is likely incorrect as Foucan was only born in 1974 and did not rise to fame with free running until the 1990s. "Sébastien developed his skills through childhood play" [1] so the Doctor could have met him before he "rose to fame".

The Doctor is described as riding a motorbike-like vehicle; he also rode a motorbike in TV: The Idiot's Lantern.

The liner notes erroneously credit Murray Gold with composing the Doctor Who theme music, instead of Ron Grainer; although Pest Control clearly takes place after the events of TV: Partners in Crime, Gold's theme arrangement from the 2005-2007 seasons is used instead of the 2008 season arrangement.